Crossed Narratives of Activism for Abortion, Alternative Childbirth, and Self-Help

Discover the second session of the 2025–2026 seminar series "Crossed Perspectives on Early Childhood" – "Crossed Narratives of Activism for Abortion, Alternative Childbirth, and Self-Help in the 1970s–1980s: An Impossible Feminist Health Movement in France?"

The seminar approaches early childhood as a social, historical, and cultural construct. Knowledge and theories relating to conception, birth, and child development are analysed in the context of the child’s interactions with their surroundings and in relation to gender norms. The seminar also explores the boundaries of this age category and its temporality according to medical, international, anthropological, and historical standards.

Drawing on historical and sociological research, this session examines the activism surrounding abortion, alternative childbirth, and self-help in France during the 1970s and 1980s. It focuses on the challenges and tensions faced by feminist health movements, analysing the practices, discourses, and social contexts that shaped these initiatives. The seminar will consider how these movements attempted to influence knowledge, care practices, and the political landscape surrounding women’s health.

• Lucile Ruault : Sociologist, Research Fellow at the CNRS, Associate Member of Cermes 3 and the Center for Administrative, Political, and Social Studies and Research (Ceraps)
• Discussant: Michel Christian: Historian